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Monday, August 26, 2013

Another honor for our young people . . .

Yesterday I received an email from Ken Riggs, our high school choir director, sharing notification that the Tahoma High School Chamber Choir has been invited to perform next March at the Northwest
Division of the American Choral Directors’ Association convention. Below, are Ken's words about this wonderful opportunity and validation of the choir's accomplishments.

. . .Every two
years, the Northwest Division of the American Choral Directors’ Association
holds a convention. This division covers the six northwestern states
(Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming), and hundreds of professional
choir directors will attend. As part of the convention, some of the best
choirs in the northwest are invited to perform. These are choirs that
represent the true pinnacle of our art form. Many of the groups are adult
professional level, but there are also some university level choirs and a few
public school choirs. Only three high school choirs were selected to
perform, and our THS Chamber Choir is one of them! This is about the
highest honor a high school choir can receive.

The audition process
requires recordings from the past three years in order to show a tradition of
excellence (and not just one lucky year), and then selections are made by a
panel of experts based solely on what they hear (they don’t know who they are
listening to). The THS Chamber Choir will perform at Seattle’s historic
Town Hall in March as part of the convention. In the true Tahoma way Ken gives all the credit to the young people, but we know that without his commitment and expertise they would not be in a position for this recognition. Thanks to him and to the young people over time whose commitment and talent made this invitation possible. I'm sure that they will make us proud.